The listening road :)

OK, so all of you know that Matthew had a cochlear implant back in October, and he was activated in November. We didn't get much of a response from him(OK, we got NO response) on activation day, and we really didn't get much measurable response at all for the next few months. For those of you not familiar with a cochlear implant, the "learning to listen" is a very long, difficult process that we have to commit to as parents. It's a lot of work, and you have to make a real conscious effort to stick with therapy! This is nothing that comes easy, for sure!!!Matthew has not ever had hearing before, so he has no idea that any sound has meaning. Hence the long process of "learning to listen."

Matthew was one of the very first children to receive a Nucleus 5 implant made from Cochlear corporation. With a new system comes lots of unknowns regarding equipment of course. Well...........since November, we have had to send 2 of the remotes back to Cochlear and have had a bunch of faulty equipment pieces. And, with that - we are wondering if Matthew wasn't showing responses to sound because of equipment failing! We think this because now that he has had working equipment and new auditory mapping back in February, we feel like we have made so much progress!

And, there have also been some changes to Matthew's care which we think is helping too! We had Matthew on a waiting list for a private speech language pathologist and finally got in with her. She sees Matthew twice a week now for 1 hour sessions, and she is amazing with him. He loves her, and has really blossomed with her. So that you can have an idea of how complex this therapy is, here's a little sampling of a "listening" session:

- Has to sit in a "listening" position, ready to give eye contact with the therapist OR Chris and I at home. He has a special chair at therapy and we use the booster seat at home!

- We got through the LING sounds, making the sound of each object over and over. (For example, aahhh for airplane, ssssss for snake, ooooooo for ghost, baaaaaaaaa for sheep, etc.) We do a few things with these sounds, as Matthew needs to listen for the sounds and select the right object AND we use them for something that is called conditioned listening.

- Conditioned listening is a little bit more complex, and the first goal for Matthew was for him to give good eye contact and look at the therapist or Chris and I for information. He needs to wait to hear the sound or see the cue before he is allowed to do the task, whether it be put a ball in something, or let a car go down a track. The video attached at the bottom of this is an example of this - and Matthew has come so far!!! Yes, the therapist and I were SUPER excited, but that is huge what he is doing. Last Friday, he actually started vocalizing with aaaahhhhhhhhh and we were over the moon excited about this. We are hearing him vocalize more sounds each and every day.

- Matthew's favorite sound is ssshhhhh which is hysterical. He gives us the shhhhh sign if he's about to do something ornery!!! Too funny. But, he does turn his head EVERY TIME he hears ssshhhhh, so very cool.

-It's a lot of work, and we often get looks in the grocery store or Walmart because pretty much our life is a dramatic storytelling experience because we elaborate everything to Matthew in signing and in speaking. We were in the grocery store the other day and he just starting making all of these very loud sounds and Chris and I were beside ourselves with joy, but you should have seen the looks we were getting telling us, "what the heck is wrong with your screaming kid?" If they only knew how excited we were to hear those sounds come from Matthew - my goodness, just wait until we hear a word or 2!!! Look out world - and I will need a whole box of Kleenex for those days :)

So, what else is happening in our therapy world that we are so excited about? Well.........Matthew has officially started his new preschool for the deaf and hard of hearing through our IU. He has only been there 3 half days so far, but his teachers couldn't believe how well and quickly he adjusted to a new routine. Good thing he did better than Mommy did....sending him to this preschool was harder on me than sending him to daycare. I have no idea why but I just sat in the car and sobbed after I dropped him off. The first 2 days he sobbed too, so I think that made it worse, but then he did better on the third day which helped me. I know this is the best thing for him, but it was so hard to let my little boy go off to preschool! He has been on a spring break now, and will restart on April 12th, and I can't wait. I think he will gain so much from being in a class with 5 other hearing impaired children and being taught by people TRAINED to care for hearing impaired kids! That is so cool!

So, that's it on the hearing update, pretty cool stuff, huh? He's a pretty cool kid!

Yes, the cat was tolerant enough to wear Matthew's processor - it made Chris and I laugh so hard!

Matthew's new Miss Sue - he LOVES HER!

Look at his face when he gets mad!!!

Learning to blow bubbles....still working on that!

Working those tongue and mouth muscles....this is his new favorite face!

A little excitement from Mommy and his therapist!